NASHVILLE -- Things turned bleak for LSU landing a spot in the NIT on Sunday, although the
Tigers' chances might've been slender at best.

The 2014 NIT field will be unveiled at 7:30 p.m. on
ESPNU, shortly after the NCAA Tournament field is released.

With a few hours to go, it looks more and more
likely the Tigers (19-13) will be left out for a second year in a row.

Following an 85-67 loss to Kentucky in the SEC
Tournament quarterfinals on Friday, LSU players and coach Johnny Jones seemed
uneasy about their NIT prospects.

The Tigers went 9-9 during the SEC season.

"Right now I don't
really know," Tigers forward Johnny O'Bryant said. "Things didn't turn out how
we wanted, and now we have to sit and wait for somebody to call us. If they
call, we're going to play our hearts out to the end."

Added Jones, "I think we played a very tough schedule this year, non‑conference.
I thought we were in some good events and teams that we played. At the
same time, we are in a very tough league. We had some challenging
games. We have had good wins in our league, as well. So I think if
you look at our body of works, yes, we would look forward to hopefully playing
in one of the really good post‑season tournaments that are out there available
to us."

A major reason why the
uncertainty of an LSU bid has risen is because of a flood of low- and mid-major
tournament outcomes. NIT rules stipulate that any regular-season champion that
does not win its conference tournament claims an automatic spot in the NIT.

That rile doesn't affect the high-major conference
because teams strong enough to win those leagues will get at-large bids to the
NCAA event.

LSU senior guard Andre Stringer said he doesn't want an 85-67 loss to be his final college game.Associated Press

However is lower-level or "one-bid" leagues, the
ripple effect creates a shortage of available spots and that is particularly
true this season.

When Louisiana-Lafayette toppled Sun Belt Conference
regular-season champ Georgia State on Sunday, 81-80, in overtime GSU became the
13th low- or mid-major team to fill an NIT spot.

With those 13 auto bids, that leaves 19 openings for
the 32-team NIT field. It's conceivable a few of the toppled champions could
sneak into the NCAA field - the most realistic candidates are Green Bay,
Belmont and Louisiana Tech.

But LSU's chances still seem slim, and the
competitive nature of the SEC might take a toll as well.

While the conference doesn't rank exceptionally high
nationally, RPI-wise, the middle of the SEC was a dogfight all season long.
That left the Tigers in a bottleneck of teams either on the NCAA bubble or in
the NIT mix.

LSU would benefit from a fourth or fifth SEC team
winding up in the NCAA field. Tennessee and Georgia are the most likely
candidates to sneak in, along with SEC locks Florida and Kentucky. But the
Volunteers and Bulldogs each have 13 losses, which could drop them into a
crowded list of SEC hopefuls for the NIT that also includes Arkansas, Missouri
and Ole Miss.

ESPN.com bracketologists projects Tennessee as an
NCAA team with Arkansas and Missouri on his second 'Next four out' grouping. (Louisiana
Tech is also listed in that group.)

If that comes to fruition, and Tennessee is removed
from the equation, then Missouri is a fairly safe bet for NIT with a current
RPI of 49 and strength of schedule (SOS) of 66 according to WarrenNolan.com.

Should head-to-head games start to factor in, the
Tigers beat Missouri in their only meeting, got swept by Georgia, split with
Arkansas and lost an overtime game at Ole Miss.

There are a few notable feathers in LSU's cap - wins
against top-50 opponents St. Joseph's, Missouri and Kentucky.

By comparison, Georgia compiled a 4-1 ledger against
the teams in similar position, swept Missouri by lost its only meeting with
Kentucky. Ole Miss went 2-2 against the other teams, with a win over Mizzou but
was swept by Kentucky. Arkansas was 3-2 and is the only NIT contender that
swept Kentucky, but the Razorbacks also lost both games to Missouri.

Should LSU miss the cut, it will look back on a
handful of games that got away and may have not only made a difference in the
NIT pecking order, but could have also pushed the Tigers into the NCAA Tournament
discussion.

As much as an overtime loss at Ole Miss stung, the four
games that haunt LSU as much as any are a home loss to Rhode Island (155 RPI/86
SOS) and three contests that the Tigers either led late or had a chance to win
in the closing seconds - at Massachusetts (31/39), vs. Memphis (47/45) and at Kentucky
(39/6). The road games at UMass and UK
would've been major boosts, and LSU lost those two by a total of three points.